Cest is d’Best 17/2

Cest is d’Best, 17th International Street Festival in Zagreb, Croatia (6 June 2013)

Canadian duo The LOL Brothers perform on Zagreb’s main square, Trg bana Jelacica (Jelacic Square)

Felicity Footloose (left) and Leopard Man (right)

Mr Qwirk performs on Trg bana Jelacica
To license these images or view more images from Cest is d’Best, the 17th International Street Festival in Zagreb click here.
Nikon D700 + 70-200/2.8 + 14-24/2.8
Photos copyright © Rudolf Abraham. All rights reserved. Images may not be copied, stored, distributed or published in any form without prior written permission from Rudolf Abraham.

Cest is d’Best 17/1

Cest is d’Best, 17th International Street Festival in Zagreb, Croatia (5 June 2013)

Argentinian street performer Tropeza Ritmika performs on Cvjetni trg

Cia Plaf (left) and Tropeza Ritmika (right)

Spanish street performers Cia Plaf after their show on Cvjetni trg
To license these images or view more images from Cest is d’Best, the 17th International Street Festival in Zagreb click here.
Nikon D700 + 70-200/2.8 + 14-24/2.8
Photos copyright © Rudolf Abraham. All rights reserved. Images may not be copied, stored, distributed or published in any form without prior written permission from Rudolf Abraham.

Vaisakhi

The legendary Heera Group perform at the Vaisakhi Festival, Trafalgar Square, London, UK (5 May 2013). Vaisakhi is one of the most important days in the Sikh religion, and also marks the beginning of the New Year. Heera Group formed in 1980 and are one of the pioneers of British Bhangra music.

To license this image or view more images from the Vaisakhi Festival in London click here.
Nikon D700 + 70-200/2.8
Photo © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorised use.

La Linea Festival (2) – Buika

The outstanding flamenco singer Buika, performing at the Union Chapel in Islington, part of the La Linea Festival, London, UK (18 April 2013). The daughter of political refugees from Equatorial Guinea, Buika grew up in a gypsy neighbourhood in Majorca. Her album El Ultimo Trago won a Latin Grammy Award, her unforgettable, smoky voice featured in the Pedro Almodovar film The Skin I Live In, and she has recorded duets with the Portuguese fado star Mariza. This was her first headline London show since 2008.

After Buika I dashed from the Union Chapel to Village Underground in Shoreditch to photograph another la Linea gig, Latin Hip Hop singer Mala Rodriguez….
Click here to license these images and for more photos of Buika at Union Chapel.
D700 + 70-200/2.8
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorised use.

La Linea Festival

Banda Estrellas de Sinaloa de German Lizarraga (top) and Boban and Marko Markovic Orchestra (bottom) live at the Barbican. ‘Brass Band Battle: Mexico vs The Balkans’, La Linea Festival, London, UK (14 April 2013)

Click here to license these images and for more photos of Boban and Marko Markovic Orchestra and Banda Estrellas.
Nikon D700 + 70-200/2.8
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorised use.

Maslenitsa Festival, London

Photographs from the Maslenitsa Festival, Trafalgar Square, London, UK (16 March 2013). Maslenitsa is a Russian Shrovetide festival celebrating the end of winter and the start of Spring.

Russian rock group Smyslovye Galuzinazii

Russian singer Polina Gagarina

Russian folk diva Nadezhda Babkina

To license any of these images or view more images from the Maslenitsa Festival in London click here.
Nikon D700 + 70-200/2.8
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorised use.

Northern Print and the Stupendous Steamroller

More photos from the Bridges Festival, Newcastle Gateshead (Sunday 5 August 2012).
Near the Tyne Bridge, Northern Print make a giant linocut print with help from the ‘stupendous steamroller’, Coquet Lass. The steamroller, which was built in 1899, worked on the roads around Rothbury, Northumberland, and was restored over a 14 year period from 1987 by David Walker of Hartburn, near Rothbury. The lino was cut at The Sage on Saturday.

David Walker in the cab of Coquet Lass

A quick clean

Inking up


Getting ready to print – a sheet of canvas is unrolled over the inked lino, and boards placed over this before being ‘pressed’ by Coquet Lass

The steamroller in action (David is joined in the cab by his son)

Lifting the first print

Holding up the finished print


The first print is hung on a railing and covered with a protective film

Second print

The final print(s) will be exhibited at the Northern Print gallery in the Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

Buzet

Buzet, a small medieval hill town in central Istria, holds its annual Subotina festival in early September – with stalls selling local produce, people dressed in period costume, live traditional music, and the evening beforehand, the preparation of an enormous omelette, filled with the truffles for which this area is famous.

Buzet from the west

Zigante truffle shop

Cheese and sausage infused with truffles at Karlic Tartufi, just outside Buzet

Serving Favorit beer (brewed just outside Buzet) on the evening before the Subotina festival

Milling cornmeal at the Subotina festival

Band playing traditional music on the town square

Making a giant omelette with over 2000 eggs and around 10kg of truffles, on the evening before the Subotina festival
For another (larger) image from Buzet, see here.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

Charente

A few shots from lovely Charente, from a recent assignment on BD (bande dessinee, or ‘comic strip’) artists in and around Angouleme.

Francis Groux, founder of the Angouleme International Comic Strip Festival / Festival Internationale de la Bande Dessinee (left), and Gerard Balinziala, the director of the festival (right), at the Abbaye de Saint Amant de Boixe, near Angouleme, Charente

Bande dessinee (comic strip) artist Mazan (Pierre Lavaud) at work in his studio, at home in Champmillon, near Angouleme

Bande dessinee (comic strip) artist Cecile Chicault (left) and her husband, historian/scriptwriter/composer Herve Pauvert (right) in their studio, at home in Chateauneuf, near Angouleme

Discussion politique. Bande dessinee artists Angelique Cesano (left), Mazan (centre) and Guilhem Bec (right) in conversation, Angouleme

The Romanesque facade of Angouleme cathedral

Statue of a character from bande dessinee artist Hugo Pratt's books, near the recently opened comic strip museum (Cite Internationale de la Bande Dessine et de l'Image, or simply CIBDI), by the river Charente

The recently opened comic strip museum (Cite Internationale de la Bande Dessine et de l'Image, or simply CIBDI), by the river Charente

And, an oldie from Angouleme: ‘La Fille des Remparts’, one of the city’s many murals

All images copyright © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.